SCO
OrColl
E
75
.S&B
v. 38
no. 9
April 2B,
2005
P.O. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
cei' of Ore,
ECRWSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRTSTD
n Springs, OR 97761
50 cents
Coyote News, est. 1976
April 28, 2005 Vol. 30, No. 9
Tyror
YAK'
Longtime
leader
passes
Warm Springs is mourning the
loss of one of its premier leaders.
Zane Jackson, 81, passed away the
morning of April 1 8.
Mr. Jackson's
health had been
declining for the
past few years.
He resigned
from the Tribal
Council on Jan.
29, 2004, be
cause of health
Zane Jackson rcasm
He and his
brother Vernon were two promi
nent sons of Charles Jackson who
had an impact in leading the Con
federated Tribes into the Twenti
eth Century.
Zane Jackson served longer
than any other elected member of
Trial Council. 1 le was first elected
to Council in 1971. Before enter
ing politics, Mr. Jackson had a ca
reer in the timber business. I le was
a veteran of World War II.
Mr. Jackson served on Tribal
Council for almost 33 years. He
served as Tribal Council chairman
four times.
I lis wife Pat, brother Max, and
numerous nephews and nieces sur
vive him.
See HOWLAK TICHUM on page 8
Discussion
focuses on
sovereignty
By Selena Boise
Spilyay Tjmoo
Tribal Sovereignty is a declaration
of individuality of the Warm Springs
Nation, meaning that the tribes have
control of their lands, as recognized
by other governments since time im
memorial. These were the words spo
ken by Cynthia Starke, attorney of
Karnopp Peterson & Noteboom law
firm representing the Confederated
Tribes. Starke was the speaker at the
recent Celilo, Salmon, & Smoke
seminar.
The topic was "Limited sover
eignty, what it means to Warm
Springs." The Confederated Tribes
has their sovereignty, but there are
limitations in place due to laws de
veloped, or court cases involving
sovereign nations, said Starke.
In early years the U.S. recognized
the sovereign status of Indian tribes
as "domestic dependent nations."
The U.S. Constitution recognizes
Indian sovereignty by classing Indian
treaties among the "supreme law of
the land."
In early Indian treaties, the U.S.
pledged to "protect" Indian tribes,
thereby establishing one of the bases
for the federal trust responsibility in
the government-to-government re
lation between the tribes and the U.S.
Before being recognized as do
mestic dependent nations, the Indi
ans in America were subject to what
the Europeans called the "Doctrine
of Discovery," said Starke.
In the year 1452, or 40 years be
fore Columbus' voyage, a European
proclamation declared war against all
non-Christians, or heathens, through
out the world.
This promoted the conquest,
colonization and exploitation of
non-Christian nations and their ter
ritories, eventually to include those
of the Native Americans.
See SOVEREIGNTY on page 7 I
Ceded Lands tour shows diverse tribal resources
By Brian Mortcnscn
Spilyay Tymoo
During a recent three-day tour, a
number of tribal members from Warm
Springs were reminded of what makes
the land on which they live now, and
the land of their ancestors, so special.
They participated in a tour of 10
sites, from north of the Warm Springs
Reservation to as far cast as Prairie
City, as part of the Warm Springs Iand
Use Planning Committee's tour of the
Ceded Lands. The tribes ceded the land
to the US. government in 1855, while
reserving sovereignty over the reser
vation.
A total of 48 people accompanied
the tour on the first day, while 23 stayed
for the second-day leg, moving cast
along the Columbia River. Twelve re
mained for the final day, spent mostly
in Grant and Umatilla counties.
On the tour were six members of
the Warm Spring Tribal Council. Coun
cil Chairman Ron Suppah, part of the
entourage, said such trips in the future
could be more fruitful if more tribal
members, particularly younger tribal
members, could take the time to attend.
"I think everyone on the tour saw
that as a key issue," Suppah said. "The
elders said there is a need to bring in
the younger generation."
The 10 million acres of the ceded
lands include the area from the Cas
cade Mountains' summit eastward, and
from the Columbia River southward.
The ceded lands include Jefferson,
Wasco, I lood River, Sherman, Gilliam,
and Morrow counties, most of Grant
County, and southern Umatilla County.
"We gave the federal government 10
million acres. We reserved our reser
vation, our homeland here for our
selves," Suppah said. "Along with that,
we reserv e certain rights to the Ceiled
I -amis under the treat v."
These rights, he said, include fishing
and hunting, gathering of other foods
and meiliein.il plants, and grazing. ( )ver
the years, Suppah said, "we're getting
to a point where we're losing the use
ofour country out there. If you looked
at the maps, probably 40 percent of
that country is open and unclaimed
land. There are a lot of opportunities
out there for our tribal membership,
but I think many are not orientated as
to what we have."
See TOUR on ,; 9
Gathering
celebrates
casino compact
Many tribal members refer to the
recent Gorge casino gaming compact
as a triumph for the Confederated
Tribes. This feeling was evident at the
gathering April 14 at the Agency
Longhouse, as the tribal members cel
ebrated with an evening of dancing and
a positive look toward the future for
the tribes.
The signing of the compact was a
long process for the tribes. Discourage
ment was a word that lingered in the
air for a time, but patience paid off in
the end, as the process has moved an
other step forward.
The name "Bridge of the Gods" was
chosen as the winner of the Casino
Name contest. Of the 80 names en
tered, five were winners, those who
chose "Bridge of the Gods."
Present to receive his award was
Tony Littlelcaf, who received $500 and
a digital camera. Four winners not
present were Tim Wainanwit, Tommy
Kalama, Marlena Becerra and Charles
Kalama, who will each receive the same
prize.
Before dinner ended, t-shirts were
given away with the name "Bridge of
the Gods" on them. Later in the
evening baseball caps were also given
away. The powwow opened with a wel
coming by Miss Warm Springs Chris
tine Johnson, followed by a grand en
try. This grand entry was an honoring
of those who have passed on,' veter
ans, elders and our leaders.
Throughout the night door prizes
were given away for children and adults.
by Selena Boise
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Selena BoiseSpilyay
Eliza and Harvey Jim take to the dance floor at the recent gathering regarding the gaming compact.
The Treaty of 1855
Sweeping force of change defines the treaty era
(Tje following is an article in a series
regarding the Treaty of 1855. This June
the Treaty will be 1 50 years old.)
By Dave McMechan
Spilyay Tymoo
Previous articles in this series have
focused on specific references, as
found in historical documents of the
federal government, to the Indian tribes
that have become the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs.
The goal of the present article is very
briefly to place the treaty year of 1855
in a more general historical context.
The treaty era of the mid 1 850s falls
between other eras involving relations
among the tribes, white setders and the
federal government. All the events,
from the first contact with Europeans
up to the present time, have left their
mark to varying degrees on the tribes,
which have nevertheless retained the
basic elements of their traditional cul
ture.
One of the earliest eras involving
the tribes and their relation with newly
arrived non-Indians was the Lewis and
Clark Expedition, which traveled
through tribal territory at the Colum
bia in 1805.
Another significant era was that of
the Christian missionaries of the 1 830s
at The Dalles. This was a time of dev
astating disease epidemics among the
tribes.
The 1 840s saw the start of the era
of the Oregon Trail. In 1843-45, ap
proximately 5,000 non-Indian settlers
arrived in the region. Many followed
the Lewis and Clark Trail along the Co
lumbia to the Willamette Valley.
This large migration, and a fear of
die lawlessness it might bring, prompted
the federal government in 1848 to or
ganize the Oregon country and adja
cent land as a territory, a first step to
ward statehood.
First, though, the federal govern
ment had to settle a long-standing dis
pute with Great Britain regarding which
country had jurisdiction over the areas
of present-day Oregon and Washing
ton. In 1846, through the Oregon (lorn
promise, the U.S. government declared
exclusive control over the region, and
the British retained the area to the
north, now Canada.
The 1840s was also the time of the
Mexican American War. During the
war, John C. Fremont, a captain in the
U.S. Engineers, led an expedition from
die Klamath area into Califc rnia. Wasco
Indian Billy Chinook of The Dalles was
a member of Fremont's expedition.
The era of the Treaty of 1855 falls
just after the time of the ( reg n Trail
and territorial organization, and just
before the time of Oregon's statehxd
(1859). Through the treaty the Confed
erated Tribes wrre recognized as sov
ereign by the U.S. government four
years before ( )regon became a state.
It was "during the treaty era that an
other force of change was gaining
momentum: For it was during the
1850s that the railroad companies of
the Fast first began adding the term
"Pacific" to their names, showing their
desire to construct a transcontinental
railroad.
The first transcontinental railroad
linked San Francisco to the Fast in
I860. In the I80s the Great North
ern would link the i irthwest -Tacoma,
Seattle and Portland -to the Fast. The
tracks followed the Columbia.
The railroads, and the sweeping
changes they would bring, likely would
have arrived earlier; however, in 1860
the federal government and the coun
try descended into the near chaos of
the Civil W ar. The war began a mere
five years after the signing of the Trcarv
of 1855.